The Louisiana State University COBRE Core laboratory (LSU-MBCL) will be operationally housed within the existing centralized facilities of the Division of Biotechnology and Molecular Medicine (BIOMMED) and the Department of Pathobiological Sciences at the LSU School of Veterinary Medicine. The LSU-MBCL will concentrate its support functions on molecular biology/recombinant DNA services, bioinformatics and molecular evaluation of immunological parameters of mice. Molecular biological services and reagents will include standard services such as DNA sequencing, recombinant plasmid and cDNA library construction. Advanced services will include processing and analysis of microarray experiments using advanced bioinformatics capabilities offered in conjunction with the Bioinformatics Unit of the LSU Pennington Biomedical Research Center (PBRC-BU). In addition, LSU-MBCL will offer real-time PCR analysis of mouse cytokines, Fluorescent Activated Sorting (FACS) analysis, and confocal microscopy in collaboration with the School of Veterinary Medicine Centralized Facilities dedicated to FACS and Light Microscopy. The specific aims of the LSU-MBCL are: (1) To provide advanced molecular biological know-how, reagents and services including bioinformatics to COBRE investigators. (2) To facilitate the use of advanced molecular immunoassays for the evaluation of immune responses of mice, and the use of other research resources of the LSU School of Veterinary Medicine.